I Hear the Sunspot Four Seasons Volume 2 Review
It’s summer but hearing-impaired Kohei Sugihara and his boyfriend Taichi Sagawa are both busier than ever with too little time to meet up: Kohei, with job interviews and Taichi mentoring Atsushi Sudo, the new member of the group he works with at SIG-N. And Sudo (also hearing-impaired, like Kohei) is not easy to get along with – especially as he seems to resent outward-going Taichi being his mentor. (Taichi met him once before at an indie game showcase.) Other members of the team have also picked up on this attitude problem, even though Sudo is skilled at masking it with the older team members.
Taichi is still bothered by a phone call he answered at home; it turns out to have been from his father, asking to speak with his grandfather. Taichi is thrown by this unexpected call; he hasn’t seen his father for many years (he was brought up by his grandparents) and can’t help wondering, What if I saw him in person? I wonder what it’d be like.
Meanwhile, Kohei is summoned for a group interview by BART. The company seems keen to promote equal opportunities when it comes to employing people with disabilities and several of the other candidates in the group Kohei’s placed in are also ‘challenged’ and so sympathetic to his needs as they work together to make a presentation. Afterward, he accompanies the other group members for an evening meal (inevitably involving plenty of alcohol). It’s only when he takes a bathroom break that he encounters the leader of his group in the washroom and, after a very prickly exchange, learns that they have much more in common than he could have imagined.
On his way home, Kohei, rather the worse for wear, bumps into Taichi and – maybe because it’s dark – kisses him. It’s night – but they’re outside in the street, so Taichi is not best pleased, in case anyone sees them. And then Taichi’s father gets in touch again, asking to meet up. Taichi, although conflicted, agrees and ends up bringing Kohei with him and heading to the amusement park…
If you’ve been following Taichi and Kohei since the start of I Hear the Sunspot, you’ll know that you’re in for an involving and sometimes heart-wrenching read. Yuki Fumino draws us effortlessly into the narrative and it’s really hard not to root for these two young men as they do very their best to make their way in life – and grow closer to one another as well. Even though this is an on-going narrative, spinning out several new story threads (Sudo may not be enthusiastic about anything much but it seems he does like rock music/guitars; Maya and Yasuda are still going out together etc.) which will stretch into volumes to come, its main aim is to go deeper into the backgrounds of Taichi and Kohei so that we understand why they are who they are today. And this time, it’s absent fathers. The appearance of Taichi’s absent father raises many questions and reveals a much more vulnerable side to Taichi than the brash, relentlessly cheery outer shell he’s developed to show the world. Kohei reveals that his father is a journalist, who’s been based in London ever since about the time Kohei became ill and lost his hearing. There’s quite a lot to unpack in this revelation but Kohei seems to accept this as the status quo and not to be troubled by his absence.
We also get to see how Taichi’s relationship with Kohei has changed him; he’s much more thoughtful about how Kohei feels about things – especially going on the Big Wheel (portrayed on the cover) when he’s not keen on heights.
There’s a touching Bonus story about Taichi’s childhood when, as a very little boy, his father was already letting him down and not turning up as promised to take him out – but his grandparents came to the rescue. Nevertheless, it doesn’t shy away from showing how bereft the little Taichi feels when his father fails to appear.
And because this is a Boys’ Love manga (although as there’s still no age rating, readers will realize that there are no scenes of a sexual nature) mangaka Yuki Fumino begins to explore the difficulties of being in a same-sex relationship in present-day Japan and other people’s prejudices, perceived or real. First of all, Kohei’s encounter with the group leader Ichihashi in the restroom after the group interview at BART – and then someone with a camera taking a snap of Kohei and Taichi together which is going to stir up all kinds of problems.
The art is as expressive as before and the cover art is stunning (Yuki Fumino’s use of colours is always so beautiful that I wish One Peace Books could include a colour page inside as well). Stephen Kohler’s translation flows very well (as always) and the lettering (uncredited) works well – except for a couple of instances of text boxes where grey lettering doesn’t show up at all well on black backgrounds. The black is obviously used by the mangaka to convey dark thoughts here but I imagine this works better in the digital version where the panel can be enlarged.
Volume 3 of Four Seasons has just been released in Japan so I hope One Peace Books will continue to bring us this sensitive, engaging slice-of-life series – especially as a new TV drama series is currently airing (and seems to have found favour with viewers and the mangaka alike)!
